AndLinux is a complete Linux system that runs under Windows 2000, XP, and 2003. AndLinux uses CoLinux, which is a port of a Linux kernel to Windows. Unlike VMware or Virtual PC, andLInux is more of an integration of Windows and Linux, which increases efficiency and means Windows and LInux can coexist with less available memory. AndLinux is Ubuntu based, which leverages the Ubuntu software repositories. Using andLinux is a fast and efficient way to get XASTIR up and running on a Windows based computer. AndLinux is in pre-beta status as of September, 2007, but according to the andLinux web site the pre-beta name is due only to the lack of an installer. This author found it easy to install, nevertheless.
Contents
Download andLinux
The first step is to download andLinux. The main website is http://wiki.gp2x.org/wiki/AndLinux. Scroll down to near the bottom of the page where it says Downloading andLinux (190MB). Choose one of the mirrors and simply click to start the download. Be sure to download andLinux PreBeta.
Install andLinux
Rather than repeat it here, the relatively simple installation instructions can be found at the following link:
http://wiki.gp2x.org/wiki/AndLinux
Either scroll down to the First time Installation heading, or use the direct link as follows:
http://wiki.gp2x.org/wiki/AndLinux#First_time_installation
When installing andLinux PreBeta, the following was the result when running the first batch file named run_to_install.bat:
This will install the needed drivers used to run andLinux.
If prompted during one of these installs, please select continue..
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Press any key to continue . . .
Cooperative Linux Daemon, 0.8.0
Compiled on Tue Oct 3 14:23:41 2006
loading C:\andLinux\andLinuxPreBeta\linux.sys
daemon: driver installed
Device node created. Install is complete when drivers are updated...
Updating drivers for tap0801co from C:\andLinux\andLinuxPreBeta\netdriver\OemWin2k.inf.
Drivers updated successfully.
Searching for last installed WinTap device...
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Ignore these errors
V V V
Error: Invalid key name
Error: The system was unable to find the specified registry key or value
Error: Invalid key name
Error: Invalid key name
Error: Invalid key name
Error: Invalid key name
Error: Invalid key name
Error: The system was unable to find the specified registry key or value
echo End of false errors
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Targeting WinTap adapter....
Adjusting WinTap Configuration at {F5AC811F-07E2-4140-B533-F25772916D5E} for use
with andLinux....
The operation completed successfully
The operation completed successfully
The operation completed successfully
The operation completed successfully
The operation completed successfully
The operation completed successfully
The operation completed successfully
The operation completed successfully
Note it says to ignore the errors, so all of the above is normal.
Using andLinux
After installing, simply execute startup.bat in order to start andLinux. Depending on the speed of your machine, it may take a minute to fully start up for the first time. An Xfce panel appears at the top of your Windows desktop when startup is complete. On this author's desktop, the panel contained icons for an X Terminal Emulator, Synaptic Package Manager, Thunar File Manager, Sensible (text) Editor, and Mozilla Firefox. Curiously the file manager and text editor were not installed. For Thunar, it was a simple apt-get install thunar to install it. For the text editor, Yours Truly decided to grab the Xfce editor, mousepad, using apt-get install mousepad and change the panel to point to it.
To install xastir in the XFCE task bar app, edit C:\Program Files\andLinux\Launcher\menu.txt. Add the following line: Xastir;xfce4_terminal.ico;xastir . Restart the XFCE task bar app and xastir will be there.
Installing XASTIR
Installing the Binary Version
The XASTIR binary version can be found and installed by launching the Synaptic Package Manager via the Xfce panel and searching for xastir. Given that andLinux is based on Ubuntu 6.10, the search yields XASTIR version 1.82-1, which is the same version one will get when using Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy). Simply select "xastir" in the package manager, and then select "mark for installation". It will show a list of other packages that will be installed that XASTIR is dependent on. Select "Mark" to complete the marking of all associated packages, and then "apply" to install. Once installed, type xastir at the terminal command line to start.
Installing XASTIR from Source
Yours truly started down the path of following the HowTo for Ubuntu 6.10/7.04, but there was a problem installing ImageMagick.
The following was done at the terminal command line to fetch the tools, libararies, etc. - basically following the same procedure that applies to Ubuntu 6.10 except installing GraphicsMagick instead of ImageMagick:
apt-get install build-essential
apt-get install cvs git autoconf automake1.9 xorg-dev libmotif-dev gv libxp-dev
apt-get install graphicsmagick libgraphicsmagick1 graphicsmagick-imagemagick-compat libgraphicsmagick1-dev
apt-get install gpsman gpsmanshp proj libpcre3-dev libdb4.4-dev python-dev libax25-dev
From here, follow the steps in the HowTo for Ubuntu 6.10/7.04 starting at the link below to fetch XASTIR source code, build it, and optionally add more libraries for additional map support. http://www.xastir.org/wiki/index.php/HowTo:Ubuntu_6.10#Get_XASTIR_source_code
The only difference in the remaining procedure between Ubuntu 6.10 vs. andLInux is that it is not necessary in andLinux to precede any commands with "sudo". In andLinux you are logged in as root by default, so the sudo can be omitted.